Improvement in harness-motions of power-looms



Nrrn rares Armer JAMES GREENHALGH, OF PASCOAG, RHODE ISLAND. i

Specification forming partol Letters Patent No. 412,575, dated May 3, 1664.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMEs GREENHALGH, of Pascoag, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Harness-Motion of Power-Looms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a front view of a harness-motion. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same parallel with Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a side view of the same. Fig. et is a side view of one of the h ioks.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to that kind of har- 11e ismotion for fancy or figured weaving, in which the opening of the shed is effected by the action of what are called knives upon hooks attached to jacks with which the harness is connected, the action of the said knives being controlled by means of' a studded pattern chain or cylinder.

The improvements consist, tirst, in providing projections upon the hooks to be acted upon bythe knives for the purpose ot' closing the shed, thereby dispensing with what are called eveners, heretofore applied for that purpose, and making the knives to close as well as to open the shed; secondly, in connecting the lower jacks by upright connections with projections on the upper parts of the hooks instead of by slanting wires with the lower parts ofthe hooks, whereby I obviate the drawing of the hooks toward the pattern chain or cylinder, and so prevent 'the wearing out or straining thereof', and am enabled to substitute wooden pins for metal ones; thirdly, in the employment, for operaty ing the two knives which are used to lift and depress the hooks, of a rock-shaft and two rockers, one of which is longer than the other, to give the pitch or inclination of the knives for opening the shed on a proper inclination.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to de scribe its construction and operation.

A is'the framing of the loom.

B I3 are the upper, and C G the lower, jacks, arranged to work on fixed fulcruin-pins b and c in the usual manner.

a. a are the connections of the heddle-f'rames attached to the inner ends ofthe jacks.

D D are the hooks suspended from the outer ends of the upper jacks, having each the two shoulders or projections e e', usually provided for the knives d d to act upon to open the shed, andtwo other or more prominent shoulders or projections, t t', upon which the knives operate to close the sheds., the said projections 'i fi. being arranged to be acted upon by the opposite edges of their respective knives to those which act upon the projections e e', and being made more prominent, that they may always be in range ot' their respective knives, whether their respective projections e e are in range or not. The said projections t' t" are arranged to be acted upon by the opposite edge of their respective knives to that by which the projections e e on the same sides of the hooks are acted uponthat is to say, the lower edge of the knife d and upper edge of d operate upon e c to open the shed, and the upper edge or" d and lower edge of d operate upon t' i to close the shed. The distances between the projections e e and those, t t', on the same side of a hook only require to be sutlicient for the knit'e to enter between them. The projections t' t" being never moved out of range of the knives by the vibrating motion of the hooks produced by the pattern .chain or cylinder, insure the closing of the shed by the knives after every opening.

ff are wires forming the upright connections between the lower jacks and the upper parts of the hooks D D. The hooks have each a projection, g, formed on its inner side, near its connections with the upper jack, for the connection ofthe said wire. The upright connections thus arranged come close to the framing of the loom, where they are out ot' the way, and, owing to the upright arrangement, and to their being connected so near the connections of the hooks with the upper jacks, they exert very little tendency to pull or press out the jacks toward the pattern chain or cylinder, thereby preventing undue strain or wear, and permitting the use ot' wooden pat tern-pins.

In the loom represented the pattern-pins h IL are in a cylinder, E, but I propose generally to arrange them in a chain.

The knives d d are arranged to work invertical guide-slots jj in plates F F, which are bolted to the sides of the main framing of the loom, and which contain the bearings for the pattern-cylinder E, or for the cylinder which carries the chain, when a chain is used. The knives are connected at their ends by rods p p with two rockers, 7c lsf, which are fast oa a rock-shaft, Z, which works in bearings attached to the side of the main framing, and which derives motion through a rod, m, connected with the back rocker, lo', from a crank, a, on the main shaft G of the loom. The front ends of the knives are connected with opposite arms of the rocker k and the rear ends with op posite arms ofthe rocker k. The two arms of each rocker are of the same length, but those of the rear rocker, 7c', are longer than those of the front one, lr, and the consequence is a greater movement is given to the rear ends of the knives, by which they are caused at the termination of their upward and downward stroke to have the proper pitch to produce the proper pitch or inclination of the shed, or, in other Words, to make the harness produce a greater or less opening of the shed, according to the distance of its several leaves from the filling-point, and thus obtain a uniform width of opening of the shed where the shuttle passes through it.

The cylinder E is furnished outside of the front plate, F, with a ratchet-wheel, q, which is actuated tol turn the cylinder by means of a pawl, r, attached to the front end of the knife d, the said pawl being kept in contact with the said ratchet-wheel by means of a spring, s. This mode of applying and operating the pawl is much simpler than that commonly used for the same purpose.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The projections it" upon the hooks D D, in combination with the knives d d', whereby the knives, besides opening the shed in the usual manner, are made to produce the closing of the shed, substantiallyy as herein described.

2. The upright connections ff, applied be- 

